Day 23 - Tooz-dee

After writing about the boys, it only made sense to let the boys write something. Here is Alex's post. Expect to hear from Tommy tomorrow.

I was always told that merging one's life with another requires compromise, albeit more in terms of marriage than dating. This definitely applies to traditions. Here are some of mine.

I grew up in a Midwest Adventist home. That should immediately tell you two things. First, I should have a moderately strong accent. Second, I had an extremely conservative upbringing. Let's begin with a couple quick stories about accents.

Over the summer, Tristinn came with me to visit my family in the deep South. She was elated to hear my family talk with a drawl but quite saddened to hear that I had essentially none. When asked, I told her that I had weeded out the drawl after many years of effort.

Two days ago, Tristinn, her family, and I sat around the breakfast table talking about accents. I used the example of days of the week (such as Tuesday) as spoken by people from the south versus a "neutral" accent (tooz-dee versus tooz-day). An hour later, we were at her father's work talking to a coworker. We discovered that the coworker and I hailed from the same state and both lacked strong, regionally-specific accents. When asked for an example, she said "Tuesdee" in exactly the same fashion.

After many questions about my childhood, Tristinn has gradually pieced together a picture of my typical Christmas. Presents usually existed, a Christmas dinner rarely happened, and I didn't even know what an advent calendar was before last year. While this may create a picture of Ebenezer Scrooge, I lack traditions because Christmas wasn't something that was the same every year. Furthermore, I haven't had Christmas in the same place twice in at least six years (three different states and three foreign countries).

For those of you who don't know, Tristinn grew up in a far less conservative home, and Christmas has included far more traditions and festivities. Without these rituals, the holidays aren't the same for her, but to me, it's all a bit ridiculous and superfluous. Yet when it comes to faith, the roles are completely reversed. Tristinn's practice of her faith is less rigid, but I am far more religious about my regiment. Over time, we will both need to mesh, and that may require us to lose the "accents" of our traditions.